A while back I posted a story about a group of young Iranian fans of Pharrell Williams, who were sentenced to jail time & 91 lashes for making their own video of the American pop star’s hit song “Happy.”

Apparently in Iran if you have better taste in music and are a fan of heavy metal or more so if you play in a heavy metal band — the punishment is far worse.

According to a message received by Metal Nation Radio, two members of Iranian metal band, Confess, have been arrested by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and have been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since November of last year until their release earlier this month after posting bail.

“Beatings, torture, mock executions and brutal interrogations are the norm at Evin prison, where for four decades the anguished cries of prisoners have been swallowed up by the drab walls of the low-slung lockup in northwestern Tehran. Standing at the foot of the Alborz Mountains, it is home to an estimated 15,000 inmates, including killers, thieves and rapists. But the prison has also held ayatollahs, journalists, intellectuals and dissidents over the years…”

During their time in jail the two metalheads were allegedly kept in solitary confinement. They are currently facing charges of blasphemy, advertising against the system, forming and running an illegal and underground band and recording label in a musical genre considered to be Satanic, writing lyrics that are anti-religious, atheistic, political, and anarchistic and granting interviews to forbidden foreign radio stations.

They are facing jail time from six months to six years or even worse could face the death-penalty if found guilty of the charge of blasphemy.

If there ever was a country in dire need of a cultural & political revolution its the Islamic Republic of Iran.